You can speculate all you want. Debate, argue, have emotional opinions. In my 23 years as a coach, I won 7 championships. What did 6 of those teams have in common? I had strength down the middle. What did the other teams have, a good goalie, good wingers, good D, but weak down the middle.

In the month of February the Habs have played for 500 hockey. 4 wins, 4 losses, 1 OTL. The 4 centres had a combined 12 points. During the same period the Jets C's had 24 pts, Oilers 30 pts and Leafs 37 pts. The 3rd best team had double the point production of the Habs.

Conclusion:

Either you go for it and sacrifice young prospects and high draft picks or you move Weber, Price, Tatar, Danault, Perry, Frolik, Byron (yes some of these guys have no trades) and build your team around Suze, KK, Poehling, Evans, Norlinder, Ghule, Romanov, Ylonen, Primeau, McNiven, Fairbrother, Caufield, Vejdemo.

You can't do both, it is one or the other!